I read a blog awhile ago about finding success in the things we do, not beating ourselves over those things we do not. It talked about little drops of awesome, and how those little drops make a fully awesome day, week, month and therefore person.
Last night I will admit to a bunch of drops of awesome.
Tacey had her girls-choice Sweetheart Masquerade Ball. She asked her current Boyfriend Nick to be her date.
Dances are a big deal, they include new clothes, a date during the day time, dinner, the dance and after-the-dance activities. They also require groups: and they are a very important thing. The thing that makes these occasions fun is a group of people all having fun together. These groups can get quite large, but usually they are between 3 & 7 couples.
I have to say I was really pleased with Tacey; she helped organize a group of good kids that wouldn't necessarily hang out together but would have a lot of fun. Her best friend Martina was not in her group, but had chosen to be in another group. Well, some things happened - not anything of Martina's doing - but she ended up without a group at all. Tacey asked her group if Martina could join their group, but it was already so large they had all agreed not to let anyone else join. So, even though it meant leaving the fun she knew she would have with one group of people, she left that group and formed just a 2 couple group to help out Martina. Then she found another group of 3 couples for them to join.
There are not a lot of nice restaurants around here, so most of the time the couples opt for prime-mom cooking at someone's house. This group wanted to go to a restaurant for dinner, but Tacey wasn't a big fan of the restaurant they chose. So she and Martina planned dinner at Martina's house. Good thing too! It seems both their dates had gotten sick with food poisoning at that restaurant before!
In addition, if you can find someone who dabbles in photography you can get your pictures much, MUCH cheaper and avoid waiting in a hideous line at the dance. The other group members wanted to get traditional pictures taken, but Martina and Tacey asked me to take them.
So, they met at a house then went M&M Bowling for their day date. There is a chart that tells how they have to roll, launch or hurl the ball down the lane. Each one is given a color and they have to pick an M&M out of the bag to figure out which color they should do. They left at about 1:30 to begin picking everyone up and returned around 5:30.
Tacey went on ahead to Martina's house to get ready, and I followed after I waited for the text messages I knew would come. 'Mom, I forgot. . . '. It took less than 5 minutes.
I set up the photography studio with lights and a backdrop I borrowed from friends. The girls picked up their dates and brought them back to the house. We took pictures and then they ate dinner. They left only 15 minutes later than planned; which is pretty good for a couple of teenage girls.
About 9:00 they were off for the dance. Before they knew it the dance was over, and they were on their way back to Martina's house with ALL of the original people to watch a movie. The movie began about 11:45, and by the time everyone had been delivered home Tacey walked through the door about 2:15.
A big day indeed.
I was home about 9:30, but did the good Mom thing and waited up for her.
Drops of awesome: Making dessert for the dinner, picking up the last minute things - like a special Mexican Coke for her date and nylons, being smart enough to wait for her to remember what she forgot, taking pictures (awesome ones at that!), editing and posting them on Facebook before the dance was even over (that might be several drops), spending time helping her get ready - make up and hair is a serious business, and a drop of awesome for every minute I stayed up past midnight - 135 of them. Do I also get drops for going dress shopping? For reminding her to order the boutineer? For making sure she had enough money for the day?
Maybe.
But anyway, here are my awesome pictures.
Yep.
36 drops of awesome in picture form.
And Tacey had a great time.
-danielle
